05/11/2021
Accordingly, the office satisfied on the balance of probabilities, with agility, dexterity and with the recurrent theme to inspire the communities within the district and its contiguous villages viciously attacked and propagated the issues during the third quarter of the year by embarking on Dawn Dusk and Whistle Stops, visited Information Centers, Media Engagements, Engagement with Faith Based Organizations , Engagements with Organized Groups, One on One (1) as well as Visits and Engagements with schools .
On violent extremism the office cited Ghana’s Anti-Terrorism Law, Act 762 of 2008 as the legislative framework which seeks to combat terrorism, suppress and detect all acts of terrorism, to Prevent the territory, resources and financial services of the country from being used to commit terrorist acts, to protect the right of people in the country to live in peace, freedom and security. With excessive emotional excitement, the office intimated that, in the annals of the act, an act is classified to be terrorist act if its primary object is in furtherance of a political, ideological, religious, racial or ethnic cause and causes serious bodily harm to a person, damages property, endangers a person's life, creates a serious risk to the health or safety of the public ,involves the use of fi****ms and exposes the public to dangerous, hazardous, radioactive or harmful substances toxic chemicals microbial toxins and prejudicial to national security or public safety and intended to cause damage to essential infrastructure etc.
The office highlighted to the residents of the district that any act of protest or demonstrations which could result in causing bodily harm, death to a person or damage property etc. were classified to be part of violent extremism. The office hinted that, they should avoid demonstrations and disturbances of any kind which could turn into violence with little or no warning signs. The office fundamentally highlighted that, a person who contributes directly or indirectly his property or collect property to commit an act of terrorism, Provides financial services, makes arrangements for retention or control of terrorist property, deals with terrorist property, Support terrorist act, harbours persons committing terrorist acts, provides lethal devices to a terrorist group, recruit a member of terrorist group, provides training and instruction to terrorist group incites, promote or solicit property for a terrorist act, Provide facilities to support terrorist act, arranges meetings in support of a terrorist group for commission of a terrorist act knowing or having reasonable grounds to believe that, that property or facility will be used in full or in part to commit an act of terrorism, commits an offence and is liable on conviction on indictment to a term of imprisonment of not less than 7 years and not more than 25 years. With excessive emotional attachment, the office quipped that, people who commit act of terrorism or violent extremism could be a family friend, neighbour, or a family member etc. They should stay alert and aware of their environment to identify possible trouble. The office extensively iterated that, radicalization in children could happened over a long period of time. Parents were therefore admonished to stay alert of some clear warning signs such as children becoming increasingly argumentative or domineering in their viewpoints, being quick to condemn those who disagree with their view point, ignoring views that contradict their own and refuses to listen to different view points, unwilling to engage with children who are different and become abusive to those children. Additionally, they could become overly political or religious, would change their old friends and allied themselves with people who share similar dogma and sentiments as theirs ,could change appearance in dressing, could be feeling persecuted, could convert to new religion, could become very secretive, could become more socially isolated and reluctant to disclose their itinerary, could become sympathetic to extremist ideologies, groups, would be visiting or spending more time on violent extremist websites and could be overly secretive about their online viewing and social media handle, would no longer be doing the things they used to do such as going to school etc.
In a concise but comprehensive statement, the office articulated to the citizens of the District that, they were key stakeholders and had a major role to play in the maintenance of law and order. They should respect the police and report suspicious activities to the police by providing them with statements, witness testimonies if they had information that could lead to the apprehension of criminals. They should refuse to turn a blind eye to crime in their communities and should build partnership with the police and other law enforcement agencies in solving problems instead of reacting to crisis. They should also set up neighbourhood watch dog committee or community patrol themes that would work in collaboration with local police and other law enforcement agencies.
The citizens were sensitized to be on the lookout for things that were out of the ordinary and could arouse suspicions. They were admonished not to confront suspicious individuals when they spot suspicious terrorist activities. They were advised to rather take note of the number of people involved, gender, ages and other physical descriptions by describing exactly what they were doing, provide exact location, describe what they were wearing, provide date, time, and duration of activity and describe the equipment used in those suspicious activities etc.
Pertinent to this, the people were admonished to know the emergency evacuation procedures in their work places, know the bomb threat procedures and report these threats to the security agencies, they should learn to maintain a low profile while travelling and should identify with the natives in their appearance, understand their culture and know the locations of safe havens and should carry with them emergency telephone numbers particularly when travelling abroad and should travel in groups.
Worship centers were advised to have a security plan to know what to do in any given situation, provide specialized security training to member who had public safety background as volunteer team to help respond in the event of an incident, educate members to understand their role in church safety and have a controlled hours of operation. Besides, the office exacted from faith based organizations in the district that, their places of worship were accessed by many different people which makes it difficult to control who enters the auditorium and should therefore install electronic surveillance systems at the worship premises. Additionally, they should determine an appropriate approach to protect worshippers in the event of an unsafe situation. They should develop an effective communication plan and should communicate these plans to the worshippers so that if there is anyone amongst the members who intends to do harm, they would be made aware that lots of eyes were watching them and should besides, monitor preachers at their worship centers to ensure that congregants are not indoctrinated or radicalized into committing violence.
in a concise yet expressive statement, the directorate indicated in the communities that one could only identify terrorist threat by observing or hearing about suspicious activity that could lead to a criminal act such as people having an unusual interest in high risk or symbolic targets, taking pictures of the locations surveillance cameras, entrance crash barriers and access control procedures etc. The office lamented that, it was impossible to identify a terrorist by mere appearance, nationality and language. In a pithy statement, the office made positive assertions and admonished the citizenry to take note of suspicious behaviors such as individuals acting furtively and suspiciously, avoiding eye contact, departing quickly when approached or seen, fluid leaking from vehicles, strong dour emitting from a building and being over dressed for the type of weather for instance, wearing of sweater or rain-coat, puffy clothes during hot weather, sweating profusely for wearing of unsuitable clothes at very high weather temperature, displaying signs of drug used, looking very aggressive, restless, irritable and nervous. Affixed and attached to these, people or individual that behaves in a way similar to someone with no future with eyes very secretive and make obvious attempt to avoid eye contact with people they perceived to be their enemies, would be looking at every possible exit, would be fervently praying to him/ herself, would show the impression of whispering to someone else and show no response to any authoritative voice, command or instruction etc.
THE DIRECTORATE ENGAGEMENT WITH STUDENTS OF CHRIST THE KING ( CKC) SHS TO EDUCATE THEM ON THE MENACE OF VIOLENT EXTREMISM
